Showing results by author "Robert Thornhill" in All Categories

Devil’s Breath is called the most dangerous drug in the world, and it’s come to Kansas City. It is said it takes away a person’s free will, and minions of a Colombian drug lord are using it to rob, steal, kidnap, and even commit murder. Fate throws Walt and his geriatric sidekicks into the path of the purveyors of Devil’s Breath endangering their lives and the lives of those around them.

How old is too old to dream? Walt Williams always dreamed of being a hero. When retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be, Walt decides it's the perfect time to achieve his dream and give Lady Justice a helping hand. So he decides to become a cop! Follow Walt as he leaves the real-estate world and retirement to solve crime and bring perps to justice. It's a bumpy but often hilarious ride. Walt and Ox, his partner in the Kansas City police department, find very unorthodox ways of bringing criminals to justice.

After five years on the police force, a bullet in the kiester from a vengeful gangbanger convinces Walt that it’s time to turn in his badge. Walt realizes once again that retirement just isn’t his cup of tea and, with a little urging from his brother-in-law, decides to become a private investigator. For five years he had served the Lady Justice wearing a white robe and a blindfold and followed the rules, but he soon discovered that the P.I. business was leading him across the line.

Members of the Midtown Book Club are found murdered. It is just the beginning of a series of deaths that lead Walt and Ox into the twisted world of a serial killer. In the late 1960's, the Zodiac Killer claimed to have killed 37 people and was never caught - the perfect crime. Oscar Roach, dreamed of being the next serial killer to commit the perfect crime. He left a calling card with each of his victims - a mystery novel, resting in their blood-soaked hands. The media dubbed him "The Librarian". Walt and the Kansas City Police are baffled.

Ox and Judy are off to Alaska on a honeymoon cruise and invite Walt and Maggie to tag along. Their vacation plans are soon shipwrecked by the murder of two fellow passengers. The murders appear to be linked to a century-old legend involving a cache of gold stolen from a prospector and buried by two thieves. Their seven day cruise is spent hunting for the gold and eluding the modern day thieves intent on possessing it at any cost.

With the death of a young black man, Walt and Ox are dragged into the eye of a storm as Kansas City erupts in violence and demonstrations. Fearing for their lives, Captain Short sends them on assignment to Cabo San Lucas where they find themselves in the eye of a very different and even more dangerous storm - Hurricane Odile. Surviving these ordeals pushes both men beyond the limits of anything they have experienced, and leaves Walt facing one of the most important decisions of his life.

Walt and Maggie are off to Hawaii to tie the knot, but Lady Justice never takes a break - not even for weddings or vacations. Ancient artifacts, political zealots and a tiny lizard drag the honeymooners from their posh hotel into a sacred burial cave in the caldera of an extinct volcano. Willie and Mary join the newlyweds for a tropical adventure filled with intriguing mystery and off-the-wall humor.

Inspired by their hero, Walt Williams, three retirees decide to give Lady Justice a helping hand.
Although their intentions are good, these septuagenarian sleuths get crossways with the Kansas City mafia, dangerous drug dealers, and the Russian mob. Walt must come to their rescue, putting himself in harm’s way to pull their eager, but aging, fannies out of the fire. Follow the action as Walt and the geriatric gumshoes prove once again that good guys can triumph over evil, no matter how old they are.

An artifact is stolen from the King Tut exhibit, setting in motion a string of bizarre murders that baffle the Kansas City Police Department. A local author simultaneously releases his novel, The Curse of the Pharaohs, attributing the deaths to an ancient prophesy, "Death shall come on swift wings to him who disturbs the peace of the King." Are the deaths the result of an ancient curse or modern day mayhem? Follow the clues with Walt and decide for yourself!

When corrupt politicians, the Italian mob, and a dirty cop collude to take over a Northeast neighborhood, Walt is recruited for the most bizarre undercover assignments of his new career. When conventional police work fails to solve the case, once again his band of scrappy seniors come to the rescue. In the process, the amazing discovery of a previously unknown session by a deceased rock & roll idol stuns the music industry. What should be a joyous occasion soon turns dark as lives are threatened.

Ben Singleton, a Marine veteran, had returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan and was having difficulty adjusting to civilian life. Fate, coincidence, or something else thrust him right into the heart of some of Walt and Ox's most difficult cases. Our heroes find themselves knee-deep in trouble as they go undercover in a nursing home to smoke out practitioners of Medicaid fraud, meanwhile, Islamic terrorists with ties to the Taliban are plotting to attack one of Kansas City's most cherished institutions.

Two septuagenarians win the lottery's biggest prize, dragging Walt and Ox into the most bizarre cases of their career. The two "oldies" are determined to use their new-found wealth to re-create the past but instead propel Walt into the future where he must use drones and Star Trek phasers to balance the scales of justice. When an extortion plot turns into kidnapping, Walt must boldly go where no cop has gone before to save himself and the millionaire.

Two radical groups have joined together for a common purpose - to kill the President of the United States, and they're looking for the perfect person to do the job. Not a cold-blooded killer or a vicious assassin, but a model citizen, far removed from the watchful eyes of Homeland Security. When the president comes to Kansas City, the unlikely trio of Walt, Willie, and Louie the Lip find themselves knee-deep in the planned assassination.

Jerry the Joker has a new girlfriend. He knew Dixie came with baggage. She had been involved in a bank robbery, was on stage as a stripper and second banana to a magician, and had been an extra in B movies. What he didn’t know was that his new squeeze was about to be abducted by aliens. Walt and his friends inadvertently become involved in the mysteries surrounding crop circles and alien visitation, both ancient and current, and come face-to-face with the possibility that we are not alone in the universe.

In Volume 45, it seems that Walt is fighting one battle after another with the mob. First, Walt is dragged into the political arena to oppose a candidate for city council with ties to the Russian mob. The moment that problem is resolved, Walt receives a frantic plea from Carmine Marchetti, the godfather of the Kansas City mafia, asking him to help fend off mobsters from Chicago who have come to take control of his operation.

Walt has his hands full battling animal abusers and a loan shark threatening to lop off a client’s pinky. But the real test comes when a landlord asks Walt to help him sue Kansas City, which has passed the Tenant Bill of Rights. This bill makes people with evictions and criminal records a protected class. Due to this new ordinance, a rent dodger with a history of evictions has moved into a client’s building.

Walt discovers a manuscript hidden in the false bottom of a cabinet Maggie bought at a craft fair. The manuscript, written by a woman named Lenore, tells the tragic story of a life filled with abuse, incest, and finally, murder. Drawn in by the story, Walt becomes entangled with members of the family whose lives mirror characters in many of Edgar Allen Poe’s Gothic novels.

Walt has a mysterious box hidden in his safe. He has been told it contains a device that can be either a blessing or a curse to mankind depending on who possesses it. Dr. Skinner comes to Kansas City and convinces Walt that he will use the device for altruistic endeavors. But others covet the device for more clandestine purposes. It is the classic confrontation of good vs. evil. The question is: Which one will possess the device in the end?

Walt goes under the knife for a heart operation and, while in the hospital, stumbles upon a series of mysterious deaths that are certainly not from natural causes. He solves that mystery only to discover that people on the transplant waiting list are suddenly dying as well. Then, information about a terrorist plot is found on a heart attack victim who has been rushed to the ICU. Throughout it all, Walt discovers that there are many ways that a person may die of a broken heart.

A badly burned body with a fresh incision and a missing kidney leads Walt into the clandestine world of an organ trader ring that has set up shop in Kansas City. Walt is determined to bring to justice the bootleggers, who purchase body parts from the disadvantaged and sell them to people with means, until a relative from Maggie's past turns up needing a kidney to survive. Once again, Walt discovers that very little in his world is black and white.